Sunburn
by AshmandaLC
Summary: Penelo is suffering due to a lapse of memory on Vaan's part. As she is suffering and watching everyone else due their daily chores, she wonders who will take up the 'cooking chore'. Basch-Penelo friendship


Title: Sunburn

Characters: Basch, Penelo (friendship)

Summary: After a long trek through the desert, Penelo has a sunburn and has someone to watch over her chores.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 12 or anything pertaining to it. No characters, no places…nothing…:cries:

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Sunburn

This was -entirely- Vaan's fault. Of all the things for him to forget, and he forgets the sun resistant balm.

_Thank you, Vaan. I can't -begin- to express my thanks to you for letting me get this way._

Penelo rested on her back under an overhang of rock and dead brush, watching everyone else do their part of the chores that was mandatory before setting camp. Her ear itched, so she raised a hand to scratch it, only to wince once her fingertips came in contact with the sun burnt skin.

_Damn Vaan._

The skin on her elbow joints hurt as well, as well as her face, and ears. Her scalp was super tender from the sun beating down on it all day. What was worse was...she was the only one. She -lived- in the desert, and she was the only one who got burnt. Not Sir Basch, who'd been in a dungeon the past two years. Not Fran who came from the freaking jungle, which by the way was -very- sheltered, and had plenty of shadows to pass around. Not Balthier, who she'd never seen in Rabanastre until they'd met. Not Her Highness, Ashe. Though, Penelo wasn't entirely sure where _she_ had been for the past two years. And who cared about Vaan right now? He was mean. He'd laughed when he'd heard she was in pain from something that seemed so measly to him. He didn't have to worry, though. He was tan. She'd always had fair skin.

It just wasn't fair. She sighed. She started watching everyone again, upset at herself for having to lay her chores down for someone else to do. She felt useless. She suddenly couldn't wait for this burn to go away, not that she was enthralled it was there to begin with.

Vaan walked by her, carrying a basket of clothes that were obviously being sent to be washed by him. Penelo 'accidentally' stuck her foot out in front of him, sufficiently tripping him, the clothes flying from the basket to the desert sand.

"Oops." She glared. He rolled his eyes, gathering the clothes up again. As he walked off, he muttered, "Get over yourself." Her jaw dropped.

"Excuse_ me?!"_ She screeched as she tried to get up. A gentle hand pushed her back down.

"Vaan, don't you have something you need to be doing?" A deep voice reverberated through her. She continued to glare at Vaan until she couldn't see him past the cliff face. The hand tightened a bit before letting her go.

"Lie back down, Penelo. I'll deal with him later, okay?"

She raised her eyes to her right.

"Basch, don't bother. I'll get him later. Once I'm...up again." She made sure to smile to him sweetly. He chuckled, the sound very low and deep.

"Don't do anything too bad," he said as he stood and started on his chore.

_Wait a minute...I know what he's doing..._

"Basch! Don't do that. Make Vaan do it. He -owes- me."

Basch stopped chopping the leafy green that was about to be stewed, then looked at her incredulously.

"You want...-Vaan-...to cook? I find that...very unlikely." He couldn't stop himself from laughing as he continued his chopping.

"But you don't need to do that. Make him suffer. Whatever he fixes he has to eat."

"As do we all, remember?"

She blushed as she laid still, her mouth open. She finally closed it.

"Point taken."

She saw Basch grin.

"Is there -anything- I can do to be useful? Please?" She pleaded.

He stopped, and looked up, obviously thinking. He finally looked to her thoughtfully.

"I can never seem to remember what you put in this. Would you kindly tell me? I know it won't be like yours but I want to get as close as I can."

She smiled, happy for once in the day.

"Of course. Do you know things by name, or should I describe them?"

"Describe, please."

"Yes, yes. Ok. See the red vegetable over there with the bright leaves sprouting from it? Yeah, that one. Rip the leaves off, and chop them as finely as you can. Yeah, just like that." She waited a moment for that to be done before continuing." Ok, now for the red veggie. Cut a thin line on the skin so you can take that off it. Ok. Now, you're going to slice the veggie into little rings. Yep. Now put the leaves and the veggie in the pot. Now for the leafy things you were cutting. Keep at what you were doing with those. Uh-huh. Now those go in. Now, you may have to go fishing through my bag for next parts. The meat goes last, so now we get the spices." She smiled.

He nodded, jogging to the tents to retrieve her bag. He returned, plopping himself down next to her.

"What am I looking for?" He asked, his eyes searching for anything that seemed even remotely familiar.

"A little blue bottle with a cork. Nope, not that one. It's lighter than that. Yeah, that's it!" She grinned as he smiled to her, standing to go back to his duty at the cooking pot. He popped the cork.

"Ok. Smell the dried petals. You're going to enough of that in the pot so that you can smell it. It may take a good bit, though to warn you. Nope, keep on. I know it takes more than that." Her hand reached over to her bag, pulling it on her chest to sift through its contents. She began pulling out the necessary spices and herbs for the stew.

"Ok. What next?" She heard him ask. She raised her hand, motioning for him to come back to her side. She handed him three at a time, telling him exactly how much of each to put in. She realized she came across a problem when she noticed she measured most by the size of her hand. His were so much bigger that he'd put too much in.

"Ok, if you don't mind, you may have to do some running back and forth for a little bit. Your hands are a little bigger than what I'm used to working with."

She saw Balthier perk his head up and grin at her. She looked confused for a bit before it dawned on her what he was reacting to.

"Balthier_. Shut. UP!!"_

He laughed as Fran shook her head at him. Basch looked to her, questioning her silently.

She blushed." Nothing. Come here. I'm going to measure these out and put them in your hand, and -then- you'll have to run back there to put it in with the rest." He nodded. She began measuring out what was needed, and he carried them back to the stew before returning for more.

Once those were done, she noticed Vaan was back, helping set up the tents. Fran had left with Ashe to collect enough firewood that would last them through the night. She frowned.

_Butthead._

It almost seemed like Basch was reading her mind, for she saw him trying to hold back his laughter.

"What?" She asked, not meaning to sound so rude. He just grinned, shaking his head.

"What next?"

She looked around." Well, it's -supposed- to be the meat, but I can't find it. Is it up there with you already?"

He nodded.

"Then cut that into small enough pieces to eat in one bite. I'm sure you can judge that yourself. Yep. Now, that goes in with everything else. Put the lid on, and we play the waiting game." She sighed and smiled. He came back to her bag, putting everything back before carrying it back to the spot it was in before. She leaned her head further back against the hard rock, closing her eyes. Today was a good day overall. If she left out the fact that she was pain, that was. Someone's hand was suddenly under her head, gently lifting it long enough to place something under it. Her eyes shot open, seeing Basch leaning over her, giving her a small grimace. He placed her head back down on to something soft. She looked bewildered at him.

"If you plan to rest against something such as this, I will not have you suffering because of your teammates' lack of sense." He muttered.

"It's not a lack of sense, so much as they have better things to occupy their minds with than me." She smiled.

He shook his head. "It's only polite to help those who need it. And you, Penelo, are definitely in need of help."

She laughed a little before asking, "While we're on the subject, could you help me get Vaan?"

Basch shook his head before standing back up to check on the pot of stew. She noticed his under-shirt was gone.

_Damn, he's good. I didn't even see him take it off..._

"Just stir it a little for now. Yeah, now put the lid back on it."

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2 hours later

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Night came quickly, and dear Gods, it was chilly. She shivered involuntarily. Ashe and Fran had helped her move closer to the tents as the guys were all bathing, so now she was more comfortably closer to the fire, but it didn't help the breezy chill any. She was finally able to sit up now, thanks to the other ladies helping cover her in some aloe to soothe the burn. They had put a blanket over her shoulders, but without her tall boots, her legs were cold as well. She just didn't want to be a bother, so she kept quiet.

She began plotting Vaan's demise by her own hands.

_Let's see. He knows I get sunburns easily; therefore I need to do something that I know will bother him. He's a pretty vain guy, although I swear I'm the only person who sees it. His left side is his weakest. I wonder... if I attack him from the left, will he see it coming? I should be able to mark him a bit. Take some paint or something. Or maybe some of Ashe's makeup. Yeah. But preferably paint. Harder to come off. He'll be stuck for days looking like the fortune teller lady in Lowtown. Poor lady doesn't have a mirror. I wonder how she's doing, anyway..._

Footsteps coming closer alerted them all to the presences of their male companions. She looked up in time to see Balthier stretching his arms above his head and yawning; Basch looked much better without all that grime and muck on his skin and hair; Vaan seemed to still have remembered her tripping him earlier, so he stayed as far from her as possible. He still had scratches on his forearms as evidence of earlier.

_Good, _she thought. _Let him suffer. Butthole._

Basch took a seat next to her, handing her a bowl full of the stew they'd made.

Everyone ate in silence, except when everyone was giving their "thanks" to Basch for making such a wonderful meal.

_He really did do well,_ she thought.

"I wouldn't have been able to make this if it hadn't been for Penelo," his calm voice explained.

"Then, my dear Penelo," Balthier started," we shall give our thanks to you both." He gave her his trademark grin, which in turn caused her to blush. She looked carefully into her bowl, suddenly examining the meat and veggies.

The rest of supper went off without a hitch. Vaan pouted about his arms the whole time, and complained verbally a few times, but that was stopped as soon as Basch threw a rock at his head. Vaan looked up to him to see Basch glaring at him.

"Want something else to complain about as well?" Basch asked, his hand reaching out for another rock next to him. Vaan's eyes widened before glaring at Penelo. She looked bewildered towards Basch then to Vaan. She caught his glare and matched it with her own. She felt Basch's arm slowly make its way behind her. A fight between the two orphans was obviously about to ensue. Basch's hand rested gently on her right shoulder, gripping softly.

"Penelo, seriously. It's just a sunburn. Get over it."

"Vaan, _get over yourself. _Sound familiar? No one cares that poor little baby got a booboo. We've all had worse. You're just being fussy for the sake of attention. I, on the other hand, needed help just to get over here. I can barely move, my entire body itches because my skin is dry, my muscles are sore, and even this blanket hurts, but damnit, if I don't have it, I'll shiver myself to death. So, Vaan, as I said before, ­_get over yourself._"

Everyone looked at Penelo as though she'd grown a second head. Ashe coughed softly, trying to lessen the tension. Fran's face was unreadable as Balthier looked around at everything but the two orphans. Basch looked sullenly at his own empty bowl. He spoke up.

"I think I'll do the dishes tonight. Anyone else done?"

Balthier nodded, handing his bowl over, as did Fran. Ashe quickly finished off what was left before handing it to him. Vaan wasn't paying attention, so Basch just took it without asking. Penelo just shook her head, holding her's closer to her body. He nodded before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Vaan looking at the ground sheepishly.

"I'll uh...I'll do the dishes. Really. S'no problem." Vaan took the small armload, and made his way to the small creek. Basch watched after him, still standing in front of Penelo. He took a seat next to her again after Vaan was out of sight. He slowly let his hand come to rest on her shoulder, careful to mind the sunburn on her skin.

He spoke softly, "Are you alright, Penelo?" She caught that the question was more then just her physical well being. She sighed as guilt flew over her.

"Do you think…I was _too _mean to him?"

Basch gave a small smile. "What other way is he going to learn if he isn't taught a lesson? And what better person to do it than one of the only people he listens to?"

His hand squeezed gently as she noticed Ashe coming to sit on her other side.

"Penelo, Vaan is still young. He isn't fully a man yet, and as such, does not fully grasp the importance of most things. What may be a big problem for you may not even reach his mind. It _is_ after all a scientifically proven fact boys mature slower than girls. No offense, Basch."

Basch gave a small smile to the Princess. "None taken, Princess. But, truly Penelo. Don't worry about him. We know him well enough to know that he'll be here to apologize to you later. Though…if he doesn't, please don't hesitate to tell the Princess or myself. If he doesn't listen to us, we may just have to go for a low punch and call on Fran."

Fran made small sound through her nose, shaking her head. She turned her head to Balthier.

"He is not _my _apprentice. Perhaps you should call upon his teacher."

Balthier looked hurt. "Fran! Must you really pull me in to all this drama? I only wish to see how it plays out, not be a part of it." At the saddened look Penelo was giving him, and the pointed looks everyone else was throwing his way, he sighed. "Fine. If all else fails, you may call on me to support your fight."

Penelo giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "You guys are the best friends ever, I promise. But really…How am I going to get him back for this unforgiveable act?"

_4 days later_

Vaan sighed, trying to move his arms over is chest to cover what was on it; a large, bright pink smiley.

"Penelo…did you _really_ have to get out the paint? This is…humiliating. There's no way I can cover all this with just my arms. And Balthier, _please!_ I'm begging you! Let me use the extra cloak!"

Penelo laughed, raising a hand to give a friendly smack to Vaan's back.

"You should just be glad that we didn't do what Balthier suggested. Then you _really _would've been embarrassed."

"Oh? And just what was that? It really couldn't be much worse than this."

Penelo giggled, lacing one of her arms through his as they walked down a street in Nalbina together.

"You'll find out if you piss any of us off again."


End file.
